Game



March 24, 1931. WARD 1,797,742

GAMF! Filed Dec. 6, 1929 I Patented Mar. 24, 1931 UNITED STATES 3'. HUGEWARD, F ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS our:

Application filed December 6, 1929. Serial No. 412,054.

This inventionrelates to a racing game. The principal object of myinventlon is to provide a game simulating an actual horse race asclosely as possible. With this object in view I have provided aminiature race track marked olf in a certain number of lanes in each ofwhich a game piece or symbol corresponding to a horse is played andarranged to be advancedon each play according to the throwing of dice. Irealize that racing games of this general description have been proposedbefore, but most of them involved such features that there was no closesimilarity to an actual horse race, and, consequently, they were notparticularly popular. In the game of my invention, the lanes for thedifferent horses are marked ofl into different numbers of spaces, theinside lane along the rail having the least number of spaces, and theoutside lane having the greatest number,

and those in between having spaces proportionately greater in numberthan the inside lane according to how far removed they are from saidlane. The dilferent lanes are given distinctive colors, and dice of thesame distinctive colors are provided, one for each lane and all numberedalike. Thus, when the dice are thrown, the 'difierent horses areadvanced according to the numbers appear- 3() ing on the different dice.The horse on the inside lane, the favorite, has the least number ofjumps to make to reach the finish line, and the others in the otherlanes have greater numbers of jumps to make according to their 5 lanes.Thus, there is injected into this game much of the element of chancethat makes horse races so popular. For example, every horse has a chanceto either win, place, or show, and the odds are, of course, more infavor of the favorite and less in favor of the horse in the outsidelane. According to my invention, players may select horses to win,place, and show, and in accordance with a predetermined schedule of oddsfor the different horses.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which-Figure 1 is a plan view of a game board or card embodying my invention,and

'cheapness, has thereon a representation of a race track at 4, and belowit or to one side, a schedule of odds 5. 6 is the start-finish line atone end of the home stretch 7, the track being preferably made oblonglike an actual race track, having a back stretch 8 and turns 9 and 10.According to my invention, the track 4 is marked olf into any suitablenumber of separate lanes preferably d'ifi'erently colored, as forexample, the inside lane 11 is shown green; the next lane 12, yellow;the next 13, blue; the next 14, brown; the next 15, white; and theoutside lane 16, red. Now, these different lanes, each distinctivelycolored as stated, are marked ofl into a certain number of spaces,starting with say, 30, for the inside lane 11 along the rail, andincreasing the number of spaces for the other lanes in proportion as theare more "remote from the inside lane, so t at lane 12' has say, 32spaces; lane 13, 34 spaces; lane 14, 36 spaces; lane 15, 38 spaces, andlane 16, 40 spaces, measuring from the start-finish line around thetrack and back to said line. Game pieces or symbols corresponding tohorses are provided for the difierent lanes, and these may or may not becolored, but preferably are, to match the lanes. The game pieces arenumbered 11 to 16. Associated with these game pieces, I provide dice, orany other suitable play-controlling devices, colored to match the lanes,numbered 21 to 26, respectively. The dice are all numbered alike-O to 5.Now, to complete the game, I have marked off the schedule 5 in sixcolumns colored to correspond with the lanes and the dice, as shown, andnumbered 31 to '36, re

. the start of the race.

spectively. The difierent fi res in each column are for win, place, andshow, as indicated, and it will be noticed that the odds are increasedin proportion to the number of spaces in the particular lane with whichthe column in the schedule is associated, and, of course, the odds areless to place than to win, and still less to show.

In playing the game, any number of players, that 1s, two or more, canpllay. One of the players may be elected ban er and given a certainnumber of chips or tokens to allot a certain number to each player. Eachof the players selects a certain horse to win, another to place, andanother to show, and, accordingly, deposits two chips in each of threeplaces on the schedule 5. Then, the horses 11 to 16' are placed on theline 6 for The banker throws the dice, and the horses are advanced aftereach throw according to the numbers appearing on the dice. The horsesappear in Fig. 1 advanced according to the throw of the dice shown inFig. 2. Thus, horse 11 has been advanced one jump to agree with dice 21;horse 12' three jumps to agree with dice 22; horse 13 two jumps to agreewith dice 23, etc., the horse 16' being shown advanced five jumps toagree with dice 26. It will be observed that one horse of the six hasnot been advanced, owing to the fact that O has been thrown with thedice 24. It will be evident from observation of the horses as theyappear in relation to one another after the first throw of the dice howthe game offers much of the excitement of an actual horse race, and,furthermore, how the chances of the diiferent horses to win, place orshow may look favorable or unfavorable during the progress of the game.At the finish of the race the banker gives the player whose horse haswon, a number of chips corresponding to the number given on theschedule. Thus, if the blue horse 13 wins, ten chips are given inreturnfor the two placed in that space at the beginning of the race, and inlike manner the banker gives chips to those whose horses were in toplace or to show. All of the other chips go to the banker. Obviously,several players can select a certain horse to win, to place, or to show.In case two or more horses tie at the finish of a race, the one with thelowest odds is regarded as first; the one with the next lowest, second;and so on. If one horse wins but there are two tied to place, whicheverone of the two that are tied has the lower odds is considered second,and the other third. In like manner there may be two tied to show. Inthat event, whichever one has the lower odds is consid ered third in therace. The rules may be varied from what has just been given to suit thepreference of the players. Furthermore, the odds given in the schedule 5are not necessarily fixed, but may be changed as desired.

The following claims are drawn with a view to coverin the invention insuch terms as to embrace alllegitimate modifications and adaptationssuch as are apt to occur to others after my disclosure.

I claim:

1. In a horse racing game or the like, the combination of a game boardembod a track having a start and finish line and divided into a seriesof lanes, each in turn divided into successive spaces, there beingdifferent predetermined numbers of spaces in the said lanes, a scheduleof odds divided lengthwise into a series of sections equal in number tothe lanes, there being one section associated with each lane theschedule being divided cross-wise so asto rovidethree spaces in eachsection, one suita ly designated for win, the next for place, and thenext for show, the spaces having suitable le ends therein pertaining toodds, theodds ing proportioned in two ways, namely, in proportion to thenumber of spaces in the lanes and as between win, play and show, gamepieces to represent horses, one for each lane, and pla controllingdevices, such as dice, one for eac game piece and all numbered alike andarranged to be played at one time so as to determine the simultaneousadvancement of the pieces in the lanes as chance determines, each laneand the schedule section and die related thereto being colored alike incontrast to the others, the diiferently colored sections of the schedulebeing arranged in the same order as the difierently colored lanes.

2. In a racing game, the combination of a game board embodying-a trackhaving a start and finish line and divided into a series of lanes, eachin turn divided into successive spaces, there being differentpredetermined numbers of spaces in said lanes, a schedule of oddsdivided lengthwise into sections equal in number to the lanes, therebeing one section associated with each lane and the sections havingsuitable legends therein pertaining to odds, game pieces, one for eachlane, and play controlling devices, such as dice, one for each gamepiece and all numbered alike and arranged to be played at one time so asto determine the simultaneous advancement of the pieces in. the lanes aschance determines, each lane and the schedule section and die relatedthereto being colored alike in contrast to the others, and thedifferently colored sections of the schedule being arranged in-the sameorder as the difierently colored lanes.

3. In a racin game, the combination of a nature.

F. HUGH WARD.

